As an ever-increasing number of multimedia applications become available, networks, especially home entertainment networks, must be able to accommodate the applications with little or no interruption. Consumers expect to be able to watch digitally recorded video (DVR), TV shows, access video on demand (VOD) services, stream music from their personal computers, play interactive games on the Internet, and more. The consumers expect to enjoy these services in real time, virtually from any room in the home.
A box diagram of a typical home installation of a single-cable system is shown in FIG. 1 as an illustrative example of a home network environment 10 that is based on a MoCA architecture. MoCA is a service mark of Multimedia Over Coax Alliance, Inc. of San Ramon, Calif. The Multimedia Over Coax Alliance is a trade group that promotes standards relating to software protocols, hardware topologies, interconnections of consumer electronics devices, and networking thereof. As the MoCA standards develop, various names have emerged to describe the software protocols, hardware topologies, interconnections, and networks that adhere to particular MoCA standards versions, such as “MoCA 1.1,” “MoCA 2.0,” and so forth. Thus, unless otherwise specifically noted, the term “MoCA” is used herein to designate software protocols, hardware topologies, interconnections of consumer electronics devices, and networks that substantially meet a past, present, or future MoCA standard for the purpose or purposes stated or implied herein.
MoCA networks are typically fully meshed networks and operate at layer-2 (the Media Access Control (MAC) layer) of the seven-layer Open System Interconnect (OSI) reference model of computer networking. Layer-2 corresponds to, or is part of, the link layer of the TCP/IP reference model. MoCA bridges are layer-2 bridging devices that bridge between a MoCA network and another networking interface, such as Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g/n, Universal Serial Bus (USB), Very-high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL), Gigabyte Passive Optical Network (GPON), etc. MoCA bridges are referred herein to as L2 devices, and, among other things, enable legacy devices to be connected to the MoCA network.
The home network environment 10 is an illustrative example of one of many such environments to which the disclosed methods, apparatuses, systems, and computer program products pertain. It should be noted that although a home network environment 10 is shown for illustration, the methods, apparatuses, systems, and computer program products described herein may be employed in a myriad of other installation locations. One example may include an apartment complex in which a number of dwellings in multi building complex may be included in a single network. Another example may include a business building in which a network may be employed in a number of offices. Other examples are manifold.
The example home network environment 10 includes a gateway 12, which receives media signals, for example, from a cable or satellite feed on line 14. The gateway 12 directs signals to the layer-2 (L2) MoCA devices in a MoCA network 15 on lines 16, 18, and 20. In the example illustrated, the MoCA devices include a multiroom DVR 22, a first link-layer bridge (L2 bridge) 24 and a second link-layer bridge (L2 bridge) 26. The gateway 12 and the multiroom DVR 22 includes their own built-in L2 bridges (not shown).
In addition, each of the L2 devices in the MoCA network 15 has a MoCA pathway to each of the other L2 devices in the network. Thus, for example, the multiroom DVR 22 is connected to the L2 bridge 24 by a MoCA pathway 28, to the L2 bridge 26 by a MoCA pathway 30, and, as mentioned, to the gateway 12 by a MoCA path 26. The L2 bridge 24 is connected to the L2 bridge 26 by a MoCA pathway 32, and as mentioned to the multiroom DVR 22 by a MoCA pathway 28, and to the gateway 12 by a MoCA pathway 18. Finally, the L2 bridge 26 is connected to the gateway 12, multiroom DVR 22 and L2 bridge 24 by the aforementioned MoCA pathways 20, 30, and 32, respectively. The MoCA pathways may be provided by coaxial cables, fiber optic lines, or the like.
Each of the L2 bridges may be connected to one or more media devices for selectively directing user media thereto. For example, in the example illustrated, the multiroom DVR is connected to a first television (TV) 34. The L2 bridge 24 is connected to a second television (TV2) 36. And the L2 bridge 26 is connected to a personal computer (PC) 38. Although televisions and a PC are illustrated, the L2 bridges can be connected to a myriad of other consumer devices in the MoCA network. Examples of such consumer devices include, but are not limited to, cable, networked, and terrestrial set top boxes (STBs), interactive digital television (IDTV) devices, high definition television (HDTV) devices, digital-cable-ready TVs, multi-tuner digital video recorders, such as digital video recorders (DVRs), personal video recorders (PVRs), or the like, personal computers (PCs), personal computer televisions (PCTVs), media gateways, on-line gaming devices, over-the-top video devices, “Blu-ray BD-live” devices, PC to TV sharing devices, Wi-Fi extenders, TV streaming media devices, such as “Slingbox” devices, “Roku” devices, and the like, and sound devices, such as “SoundBridge” devices, radios, or the like.
Typically, the L2 bridges 24 and 26, the multiroom DVR 22, and gateway 12 are supplied by the service provider and controlled by the service provider via control signals downloaded, for instance, from a cable or satellite link, for instance on line 14. Control here includes management operations such as network configuration, software upgrades of the open network elements, Parameterized Qualify of Service (PQoS), PQoS flow setup and tear down, and the like. The software of the closed network elements, however, heretofore could not be upgraded.
The L2 bridges are interconnected with each other in a closed network, indicated by the heavy interconnection lines 16, 18, 20, 28, 30, and 32. Presently, the closed network is not modifiable by the user. The closed network is in distinction to the open network, which is user modifiable and which comprises the interconnections of the consumer devices above described. Consequently, the L2 bridges 24 and 26, the multiroom DVR 22, and gateway 12 can communicate with each other. Because the L2 bridges 24 and 26, the multiroom DVR 22, and gateway 12 are associated with one or more of the consumer devices, the closed network enables the consumer devices to communicate with each other according to the MoCA architecture created thereby. In current networks, the L2 bridges 24 and 26, the multiroom DVR 22, and gateway 12 belong exclusively to the closed network; however, they can be used to extend the open network. In the future, the distinction between open and closed networks may not be so rigid, or may be eliminated entirely.
The aforementioned method and apparatus relies on Layer-2 Management Entity (L2ME) messages defined in the MoCA 1.1 specification. The MoCA 1.1 specification describes L2ME as a robust layer-2 messaging mechanism. L2ME is used for Parameterized Quality of Service (PQoS) and other critical features to coordinate actions between two or more nodes in the network. L2ME also defines the ability for vendors to implement proprietary vendor specific messages, as long as these messages follow L2ME protocol rules. A number of proprietary L2ME messages are defined to facilitate known capabilities, such as device management to obscure capabilities such as an ability for higher layer software between the two devices to communicate using a MoCA network using a robust communication mechanism.
Therefore, one of the key challenges for operators has been to manage the layer-2 devices that do not support higher layers of protocol. Thus, in either scenario, since the layer-2 devices in the closed system are not a part of an Ethernet service or a TCP/IP telnet service to the service provider, the service provider has been unable to provide management functions such as configuration management, status and statistics monitoring, as well as software upgrades.
What is needed therefore are principles, apparatuses, methods, systems, and computer program products that can be used to enable management functions such as configuration management, status and statistics monitoring, as well as software upgrades (referred to collectively herein as “software upgrades”) in MoCA systems, including such MoCA systems deployed in a MoCA home network environments.